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Ahn Graphics Ltd. / De-Novation 2012 / Printed Matter / 2013
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big imagination foundation has converted a jumbo jet into an immersive art installation hosting events, music, speakers and parties on board.
The post converted boeing 747 lands at burning man in nevada's black rock desert appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.
The dazzling, haunting ‘combines' at the heart of Tate Modern's forthcoming retrospective were part of a private game between Rauschenberg and his peers and sometime lovers, Cy Twombly and Jasper Johns
Robert Rauschenberg's 1954 work Untitled is an upright wooden box supported by a white, colonial-era table leg over an open stage-like enclosure in which a stuffed Dominique hen struts next to a nostalgic photograph of a tall man in a white suit. Walk around this oddly compelling array every surface of which is covered in old pictures, newsprint and smeared paint and you find a pair of shoes, painted white. Do they belong to the man in the portrait? Who was he? Why does this constellation of stuff trigger such an undeniable, unforgettable sense of mystery?
Continue reading...Elton John shares his photography collection, Tracey Emin gets into bed with William Blake and David Shrigley gives everyone a big thumb's-up
Neon might once have been considered a quintessentially American medium but the British artists who have worked with it are numerous. Martin Creed, Tracey Emin, Cerith Wyn Evans and Eddie Peake are just some of the homebred talents to feature alongside international names in this major survey of neon art in, where else, Blackpool. Home to the world-famous Illuminations, first switched on in September 1879, the city has played a central role in the UK history of neon, as the Grundy seeks to prove with an exhibition that includes rare 1930s designs for the biggest free light show on earth.
• 1 September to 7 January 2017, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool.
Elton John shares his photography collection, Tracey Emin gets into bed with William Blake and David Shrigley gives everyone a big thumb's-up
Neon might once have been considered a quintessentially American medium but the British artists who have worked with it are numerous. Martin Creed, Tracey Emin, Cerith Wyn Evans and Eddie Peake are just some of the homebred talents to feature alongside international names in this major survey of neon art in, where else, Blackpool. Home to the world-famous Illuminations, first switched on in September 1879, the city has played a central role in the UK history of neon, as the Grundy seeks to prove with an exhibition that includes rare 1930s designs for the biggest free light show on earth.
• 1 September to 7 January 2017, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool.
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sometimesquicklysometimesslowly:
Queen ta leaf a
Signal detected a year ago from HD164595, only 95 light years away and with at least one planet, but Seti scientists are scanning the area and have yet to find it
As David Bowie might have sung: is there life on HD164595b?
A Russian radio telescope scanning the skies has observed “a strong signal” from a nearby star, HD164595, in the constellation Hercules. The star is a scant 95 light years away and 99% of the size of Earth's own sun. It has at least one planet, HD164595b, which is about the size of Neptune and has a 40-day year.
Related: Alien ‘Wow!' signal could be explained after almost 40 years
Continue reading...
An international team of astronomers has just detected signals coming from almost 100 light years away, and they believe the signal is a strong candidate for extraterrestrial contact, according to a document circulated by Alexander Panov, a theorectical physicist at Lomonosov Moscow State University: "a strong signal in the direction of HD164595, a planet system in the constellation Hercules was detected on May 15, using the RATAN-600 radio telescope (below) in the Russian Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia."
The researchers have not reached a conclusion, but claim that it was a very strong candidate for extraterrestrial intelligence, although Permanent monitoring would be needed in order to rule out other causes. The estimated probability ~2 X 10-4 to simulate a signal from the direction of the HD164595 by signal-like noise is small.
Based on the strength of the signal and the distance it traveled, the researchers calculated that the signal was an isotropic beacon of radio signals could be the work of an advanced civilizations, possibly a Type II civilization on the Kardashev scale, which would make it approximately a few thousand years ahead of our human civilization. If it's a targeted beacon aimed directly at Earth, it would be the work of a Type III civilization, which is estimated to be 100,000-1 million years ahead of us capable of harnessing the energy of a supermassive black hole.
The possibility of noise of one form or another cannot be ruled out, and researchers in Paris led by Jean Schneider are considering the possible of simple microlensing enhansing background noise source by HD164595. But the signal is provocative enough that the RATAN-600 researchers are calling for permanent monitoring of this target.
Stay tuned!
The Daily Galaxy via centauri-dreams.org
Image credit: with thanks to lh3.googleusercontent and apod.nasa.gov and learning-mind.com
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NASA Goddard Photo and Video posted a photo:
!["Astronomers]("http://chimpfeedr.com/img/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm9.staticflickr.com%2F8333%2F28697536924_026cff1667_m.jpg&width=540&mix=d4e49-astronomy")
An age-defying star designated as IRAS 19312+1950 exhibits features characteristic of a very young star and a very old star. The object stands out as extremely bright inside a large, chemically rich cloud of material, as shown in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. A NASA-led team of scientists thinks the star which is about 10 times as massive as our sun and emits about 20,000 times as much energy is a newly forming protostar. That was a big surprise because the region had not been known as a stellar nursery before. But the presence of a nearby interstellar bubble, which indicates the presence of a recently formed massive star, also supports this idea.
Read more: go.nasa.gov/2bMza9d
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The center of the Milky Way galaxy is currently a quiet place where a supermassive black hole slumbers, only occasionally slurping small sips of hydrogen gas. But it wasn't always this way. A new study shows that 6 million years ago, when the first human ancestors known as hominins walked the Earth, our galaxy's core blazed forth furiously. The evidence for this active phase came from a search for the galaxy's missing mass.
Measurements show that the Milky Way galaxy weighs about 1-2 trillion times as much as our Sun. About five-sixths of that is in the form of invisible and mysterious dark matter. The remaining one-sixth of our galaxy's heft, or 150-300 billion solar masses, is normal matter. However, if you count up all the stars, gas and dust we can see, you only find about 65 billion solar masses. The rest of the normal matter - stuff made of neutrons, protons, and electrons - seems to be missing.
"We played a cosmic game of hide-and-seek. And we asked ourselves, where could the missing mass be hiding?" says lead author Fabrizio Nicastro, a research associate at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and astrophysicist at the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF).
"We analyzed archival X-ray observations from the XMM-Newton spacecraft and found that the missing mass is in the form of a million-degree gaseous fog permeating our galaxy. That fog absorbs X-rays from more distant background sources," Nicastro continues.
The astronomers used the amount of absorption to calculate how much normal matter was there, and how it was distributed. They applied computer models but learned that they couldn't match the observations with a smooth, uniform distribution of gas. Instead, they found that there is a "bubble" in the center of our galaxy that extends two-thirds of the way to Earth.
Clearing out that bubble required a tremendous amount of energy. That energy, the authors surmise, came from the feeding black hole. While some infalling gas was swallowed by the black hole, other gas was pumped out at speeds of 2 million miles per hour (1,000 km/sec).
Six million years later, the shock wave created by that phase of activity has crossed 20,000 light-years of space. Meanwhile, the black hole has run out of nearby food and gone into hibernation. This timeline is corroborated by the presence of 6-million-year-old stars near the galactic center. Those stars formed from some of the same material that once flowed toward the black hole.
"The different lines of evidence all tie together very well," says Smithsonian co-author Martin Elvis (CfA). "This active phase lasted for 4 to 8 million years, which is reasonable for a quasar."
The observations and associated computer models also show that the hot, million-degree gas can account for up to 130 billion solar masses of material. Thus, it just might explain where all of the galaxy's missing matter was hiding: it was too hot to be seen.
More answers may come from the proposed next-generation space mission known as X-ray Surveyor. It would be able to map out the bubble by observing fainter sources, and see finer detail to tease out more information about the elusive missing mass. The European Space Agency's Athena X-ray Observatory, planned for launch in 2028, offers similar promise.
These results have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal and are available online.
The Daily Galaxy via CfA
Image credits: NASA, ESO and ALMA Observatory
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While blue in color, like Earth, “hot Jupiter” HD 189733 is much stranger than Earth. On this turbulent alien world, the daytime temperature is nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and it possibly rains glass—sideways—in howling, 4,500 mph winds.
The cobalt blue color comes not from the reflection of a tropical ocean, as on Earth, but rather a hazy, blow-torched atmosphere containing high clouds laced with silicate particles. Silicates condensing in the heat could form very small drops of glass that scatter blue light more than red light. The Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories have made intensive studies of HD 189733b since 2013, and found its atmosphere to be changeable and exotic.
The Daily Galaxy via NASA
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Astronomers say that in our galaxy alone, a billion or more such Jupiter-like worlds could be orbiting stars other than our sun. And we can use them to gain a better understanding of our solar system and our galactic environment, including the prospects for finding life. The Milky Way is home to a bewildering variety of Jupiter-like worlds: hot ones, cold ones, giant versions of our own giant, pint-sized pretenders only half as big around.
One exo-Jupiter, while blue in color, like Earth, HD 189733 is much stranger than our own planet. On this turbulent alien world, the daytime temperature is nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and it possibly rains glass—sideways—in howling, 4,500 mph winds. The cobalt blue color comes not from the reflection of a tropical ocean, as on Earth, but rather a hazy, blow-torched atmosphere containing high clouds laced with silicate particles. Silicates condensing in the heat could form very small drops of glass that scatter blue light more than red light.
We can also turn our instruments and probes to our own backyard, and view Jupiter as if it were an exoplanet to learn more about those far-off worlds. The best-ever chance to do this is now, with Juno, a NASA probe the size of a basketball court, which arrived at Jupiter in July to begin a series of long, looping orbits around our solar system's largest planet. Juno is expected to capture the most detailed images of the gas giant ever seen. And with a suite of science instruments, Juno will plumb the secrets beneath Jupiter's roiling atmosphere.
It will be a very long time, if ever, before scientists who study exoplanets -- planets orbiting other stars -- get the chance to watch an interstellar probe coast into orbit around an exo-Jupiter, dozens or hundreds of light-years away. But if they ever do, it's a safe bet the scene will summon echoes of Juno.
"The only way we're going to ever be able to understand what we see in those extrasolar planets is by actually understanding our system, our Jupiter itself," said David Ciardi, an astronomer with NASA's Exoplanet Science Institute (NExSci) at Caltech.
Juno's detailed examination of Jupiter could provide insights into the history, and future, of our solar system. The tally of confirmed exoplanets so far includes hundreds in Jupiter's size-range, and many more that are larger or smaller.
The so-called hot Jupiters acquired their name for a reason: They are in tight orbits around their stars that make them sizzling-hot, completing a full revolution -- the planet's entire year -- in what would be a few days on Earth. And they're charbroiled along the way.
But why does our solar system lack a "hot Jupiter?" Or is this, perhaps, the fate awaiting our own Jupiter billions of years from now -- could it gradually spiral toward the sun, or might the swollen future sun expand to engulf it?
Not likely, Ciardi says; such planetary migrations probably occur early in the life of a solar system. "In order for migration to occur, there needs to be dusty material within the system," he said. "Enough to produce drag. That phase of migration is long since over for our solar system."
Jupiter itself might already have migrated from farther out in the solar system, although no one really knows, he said.
If Juno's measurements can help settle the question, they could take us a long way toward understanding Jupiter's influence on the formation of Earth -- and, by extension, the formation of other "Earths" that might be scattered among the stars.
"Juno is measuring water vapor in the Jovian atmosphere," said Elisa Quintana, a research scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. "This allows the mission to measure the abundance of oxygen on Jupiter. Oxygen is thought to be correlated with the initial position from which Jupiter originated."
If Jupiter's formation started with large chunks of ice in its present position, then it would have taken a lot of water ice to carry in the heavier elements which we find in Jupiter. But a Jupiter that formed farther out in the solar system, then migrated inward, could have formed from much colder ice, which would carry in the observed heavier elements with a smaller amount of water. If Jupiter formed more directly from the solar nebula, without ice chunks as a starter, then it should contain less water still. Measuring the water is a key step in understanding how and where Jupiter formed.
That's how Juno's microwave radiometer, which will measure water vapor, could reveal Jupiter's ancient history. "If Juno detects a high abundance of oxygen, it could suggest that the planet formed farther out," Quintana said.
A probe dropped into Jupiter by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in 1995 found high winds and turbulence, but the expected water seemed to be absent. Scientists think Galileo's one-shot probe just happened to drop into a dry area of the atmosphere, but Juno will survey the entire planet from orbit.
Where Jupiter formed, and when, also could answer questions about the solar system's "giant impact phase," a time of crashes and collisions among early planet-forming bodies that eventually led to the solar system we have today.
Our solar system was extremely accident-prone in its early history -- perhaps not quite like billiard balls caroming around, but with plenty of pileups and fender-benders.
"It definitely was a violent time," Quintana said. "There were collisions going on for tens of millions of years. For example, the idea of how the moon formed is that a proto-Earth and another body collided; the disk of debris from this collision formed the moon. And some people think Mercury, because it has such a huge iron core, was hit by something big that stripped off its mantle; it was left with a large core in proportion to its size."
Part of Quintana's research involves computer modeling of the formation of planets and solar systems. Teasing out Jupiter's structure and composition could greatly enhance such models, she said. Quintana already has modeled our solar system's formation, with Jupiter and without, yielding some surprising findings.
"For a long time, people thought Jupiter was essential to habitability because it might have shielded Earth from the constant influx of impacts [during the solar system's early days] which could have been damaging to habitability," she said. "What we've found in our simulations is that it's almost the opposite. When you add Jupiter, the accretion times are faster and the impacts onto Earth are far more energetic. Planets formed within about 100 million years; the solar system was done growing by that point," Quintana said.
"If you take Jupiter out, you still form Earth, but on timescales of billions of years rather than hundreds of millions. Earth still receives giant impacts, but they're less frequent and have lower impact energies," she said.
Another critical Juno measurement that could shed new light on the dark history of planetary formation is the mission's gravity science experiment. Changes in the frequency of radio transmissions from Juno to NASA's Deep Space Network will help map the giant planet's gravitational field.
Knowing the nature of Jupiter's core could reveal how quickly the planet formed, with implications for how Jupiter might have affected Earth's formation.
And the spacecraft's magnetometers could yield more insight into the deep internal structure of Jupiter by measuring its magnetic field.
"We don't understand a lot about Jupiter's magnetic field," Ciardi said. "We think it's produced by metallic hydrogen in the deep interior. Jupiter has an incredibly strong magnetic field, much stronger than Earth's."
Mapping Jupiter's magnetic field also might help pin down the plausibility of proposed scenarios for alien life beyond our solar system. Earth's magnetic field is thought to be important to life because it acts like a protective shield, channeling potentially harmful charged particles and cosmic rays away from the surface.
"If a Jupiter-like planet orbits its star at a distance where liquid water could exist, the Jupiter-like planet itself might not have life, but it might have moons which could potentially harbor life," he said.
An exo-Jupiter's intense magnetic field could protect such life forms, he said. That conjures visions of Pandora, the moon in the movie "Avatar" inhabited by 10-foot-tall humanoids who ride massive, flying predators through an exotic alien ecosystem.
Juno's findings will be important not only to understanding how exo-Jupiters might influence the formation of exo-Earths, or other kinds of habitable planets. They'll also be essential to the next generation of space telescopes that will hunt for alien worlds. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will conduct a survey of nearby bright stars for exoplanets beginning in June 2018, or earlier. The James Webb Space Telescope, expected to launch in 2018, and WFIRST (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope), with launch anticipated in the mid-2020s, will attempt to take direct images of giant planets orbiting other stars.
"We're going to be able to image planets and get spectra," or light profiles from exoplanets that will reveal atmospheric gases, Ciardi said. Juno's revelations about Jupiter will help scientists to make sense of these data from distant worlds.
"Studying our solar system is about studying exoplanets," he said. "And studying exoplanets is about studying our solar system. They go together."
The Daily Galaxy via JPL and https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/strange-new-worlds
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In this episode of Cosmic Queries, Neil will discuss topics ranging from alien plant life, to colonizing Mars, to whether velocity could be considered a dimension. You'll find out if the constellations would look different when seen from Saturn, whether there's a north pole to our universe, and why astronomers got the Milky Way's north pole wrong in the first place.
Discover why a stable black hole can't exist inside a star, and how the expansion of our Sun will affect the Earth. You'll learn how scientists knew to leave gaps in the periodic table of the elements, and why the moon is spiraling away from the Earth at 5 inches a year. Neil speculates on what the bright spot on the dwarf planet Ceres might be, whether we'll explore Jupiter's moon Europa in our lifetimes, and if we'll find life in its subsurface ocean. You'll also hear how NASA inventions led to grooved highway pavement and safer, cheaper LASIK surgery. On the lighter side, Neil and Chuck talk about the Ship of the Imagination from COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey to YouTube's famous “Double Rainbow Guy.
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Elton John shares his photography collection, Tracey Emin gets into bed with William Blake and David Shrigley gives everyone a big thumb's-up
Neon might once have been considered a quintessentially American medium but the British artists who have worked with it are numerous. Martin Creed, Tracey Emin, Cerith Wyn Evans and Eddie Peake are just some of the homebred talents to feature alongside international names in this major survey of neon art in, where else, Blackpool. Home to the world-famous Illuminations, first switched on in September 1879, the city has played a central role in the UK history of neon, as the Grundy seeks to prove with an exhibition that includes rare 1930s designs for the biggest free light show on earth.
• 1 September to 7 January 2017, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool.
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Polish poster by Bronislaw Zelek for FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (John Schlesinger, UK, 1967) and the Spanish poster for YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER (Woody Allen, USA, 2010).
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US teaser one sheet for LA LA LAND (Damien Chazelle, USA, 2016)
Designer: LA (appropriately enough)
Poster source: IMPAwards
Last October Smithsonian Folkways released “The Brothers Nazaroff: The Happy Prince,” a boisterous, high-energy tribute to cult Yiddish troubadour Nathan “Prince” Nazaroff, who recorded the mysterious Folkways 10-inch record Jewish Freilach Songs in 1954. International klezmer supergroup The Brothers Nazaroff, composed of Daniel Kahn, Psoy Korolenko, Michael Alpert, Jake Shulman-Ment, Bob Cohen, and Hampus Melin, breathe new life into the discordant, obscure, jubilant legacy of their Happy Prince.
This animation by Ben Katchor gives a preview of The Brothers Nazaroff's raucous reinterpretation of The Happy Prince's song “Ich A Mazeldicker Yid (Oh! Am I a ‘Mazeldicker' Jew!).”
The post Animated Music Video: “Ich A Mazeldicker Yid” by The Brothers Nazaroff appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.
!["Andromeda"]("http://chimpfeedr.com/img/?url=http%3A%2F%2Finsider.si.edu%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F08%2FMilky-Way-630x458.jpg&width=540&mix=42dfe-culture")
This artist's impression shows the Milky Way as it may have appeared 6 million years ago during a “quasar” phase of activity. A wispy orange bubble extends from the galactic center out to a radius of about 20,000 light-years. Outside of that bubble, a pervasive “fog” of million-degree gas might account for the galaxy's missing matter of 130 billion solar masses. (Image by Mark A. Garlick/CfA)
The center of the Milky Way galaxy is currently a quiet place where a supermassive black hole slumbers, only occasionally slurping small sips of hydrogen gas. But it wasn't always this way. A new study shows that 6 million years ago, when the first human ancestors known as hominins walked the Earth, our galaxy's core blazed forth furiously. The evidence for this active phase came from a search for the galaxy's missing mass.
Measurements show that the Milky Way galaxy weighs about 1-2 trillion times as much as our Sun. About five-sixths of that is in the form of invisible and mysterious dark matter. The remaining one-sixth of our galaxy's heft, or 150-300 billion solar masses, is normal matter. However, if you count up all the stars, gas and dust we can see, you only find about 65 billion solar masses. The rest of the normal matter stuff made of neutrons, protons, and electrons seems to be missing.
“We played a cosmic game of hide-and-seek. And we asked ourselves, where could the missing mass be hiding?” says lead author Fabrizio Nicastro, a research associate at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and astrophysicist at the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF).
“We analyzed archival X-ray observations from the XMM-Newton spacecraft and found that the missing mass is in the form of a million-degree gaseous fog permeating our galaxy. That fog absorbs X-rays from more distant background sources,” Nicastro continues.
The astronomers used the amount of absorption to calculate how much normal matter was there, and how it was distributed. They applied computer models but learned that they couldn't match the observations with a smooth, uniform distribution of gas. Instead, they found that there is a “bubble” in the center of our galaxy that extends two-thirds of the way to Earth.
Clearing out that bubble required a tremendous amount of energy. That energy, the authors surmise, came from the feeding black hole. While some infalling gas was swallowed by the black hole, other gas was pumped out at speeds of 2 million miles per hour (1,000 km/sec).
Six million years later, the shock wave created by that phase of activity has crossed 20,000 light-years of space. Meanwhile, the black hole has run out of nearby food and gone into hibernation.
This timeline is corroborated by the presence of 6-million-year-old stars near the galactic center. Those stars formed from some of the same material that once flowed toward the black hole.
“The different lines of evidence all tie together very well,” says Smithsonian co-author Martin Elvis (CfA). “This active phase lasted for 4 to 8 million years, which is reasonable for a quasar.”
The observations and associated computer models also show that the hot, million-degree gas can account for up to 130 billion solar masses of material. Thus, it just might explain where all of the galaxy's missing matter was hiding: it was too hot to be seen.
More answers may come from the proposed next-generation space mission known as X-ray Surveyor. It would be able to map out the bubble by observing fainter sources, and see finer detail to tease out more information about the elusive missing mass. The European Space Agency's Athena X-ray Observatory, planned for launch in 2028, offers similar promise.
These results have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal and are available online.
The post The Milky Way's blowout bash 6 million years ago! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.
A giant killer hornet war is waged between two colonies, and the resources, territories, and survival of a new generation are at stake. Watch the battle unfold as these huge hornets risk their lives for their kingdoms. From: KILLER HORNETS
The post Smithsonian Channel: Killer hornet war appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.
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Think of it as a gift within a gift. Some beneficial gut bacteria contain viruses called "bacteriophages." And some of these phages now have been associated with good intestinal health in humans.
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Foxy Belle posted a photo:
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This monarch flew around our heads in the backyard and then landed on this wildflower. It stayed still and was very patient as I took a close up.
I am sooo pleased to see another of these gorgeous butterflies. I had not seen any in years and now 2 within 2 days. I just love these beauties. I once did a huge painting of a wing in art class in high school. I dedicate a bullentin board to them in my classroom and have paper ones hung about.
Foxy Belle posted a photo:
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Foxy Belle posted a photo:
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In my back yard
It stayed still and let me get quite close.
Foxy Belle posted a photo:
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It landed on my butterfly bush. I guess it has the right name. It smells wonderful.
Foxy Belle posted a photo:
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We were very excited to see this monarch yesterday. We had not seen one in years. They are in trouble due to pesticide use and loss of milkweed.
ArtGordon1 posted a photo:
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thelimla posted a photo:
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Parliament at sunset in July
A new study suggests the 3.2-million-year-old hominin died when she fell from a tree and fractured her bones. But other paleoanthropologists say the breaks happened after she died.
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koko black posted a photo:
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London Docklands
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The hour approaches ~ Westminster Abbey, and the Tower of Big Ben. Take me back to London!
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Big Ben, London.
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Armed with my sharpened trowel, 3-meter tape, shovel, shaker screen and peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I joined my first dig as part of Binghamton University's Public Archaeology Facility back in 1975. Crews of archaeologists were shovel testing the proposed route of Interstate 88 from Binghamton to Albany, New York. I was so excited at the prospect of discovering archaeological sites, and hoping one would become the basis for my master's thesis.
After eight weeks wrapped up with no significant discoveries, panic set in - I would never finish my degree! Then, on an overcast and hot day, with a mass of mosquitoes swarming around my bandana-clad head, I descended with my crew into a glade adjacent to a pristine bog. I rammed my shovel into the ground, poured the soil into the shaker screen and heard what sounded like coins hitting the metal mesh. It was hundreds of pieces of chert debitage, the flake by-products of stone tool manufacturing. I had discovered my first prehistoric site. Our whole team was elated, and I had my thesis topic.
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Fast-forward to now: I'm the director of the Public Archaeology Facility, a research center specializing in cultural resource management. Our mission is to identify, evaluate and preserve significant sites, train students to be professional archaeologists and share our results with the public. We can work on up to 100 projects a year. Since our inception in 1972, the center has discovered more than 3,500 archaeological sites.
Back when my 10-year-old self announced to my parents that I wanted to be an archaeologist, I was met with incomprehension and a little fear - what kind of career prospect was that? But thanks to the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act, federal agencies must consider the impact of construction and development projects on significant cultural resources, and take measures to avoid those impacts. Developers with federal funding or permits hire legions of cultural resource management archaeologists to help them satisfy the law's requirements.
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People often ask how cultural resource management differs from traditional archaeology. There's quite a bit of overlap. Academic archaeologists train with mentors, specialize in a cultural region either in the United States or abroad and participate in grant-funded research. They pick the places where they work.
Cultural resource management archaeologists do not pick the places where we dig. Instead, we conduct archaeology in spots where developments or other ground-disturbing projects are planned. We never know where our next project will be. We could be on a nearby bridge replacement project one day checking for sites, travel 50 miles the next day to excavate a 5,000-year-old camp where a housing development is proposed, finish the week with client meetings, then head out the next week to an urban excavation of a 19th-century neighborhood.
Traditional archaeology usually tests a theory or method, or tries to replicate previous scientific findings. A cultural resource management investigation needs to answer questions like: Will this construction project damage or destroy a significant part of our nation's heritage? This heritage can take the form of archaeological sites hidden below ground, above-ground historic architectural gems and landscapes that hold special religious or ceremonial significance to Native Americans and other communities.
And this isn't just a small offshoot of mainstream archaeology. For instance, in 2013, more than 102,000 federal undertakings required some form of compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act. This doesn't include the thousands of state-permitted projects that fall under the jurisdiction of state historic preservation laws. That year more than 135,000 cultural resources were discovered and evaluated for their historical significance as part of federal projects alone. Each of these sites or properties represents new knowledge about how people lived, worked and viewed their world hundreds and thousands of years ago.
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Even though the origins of our projects are different, cultural resource management archaeologists make exciting discoveries just like our colleagues. For instance, the sites we found during that I-88 project (which I wove into my doctoral dissertation) showed us how seasonally nomadic hunter-gatherers from thousands of years ago lived in communities, moved across the landscape and used a changing assortment of stone tools for their everyday tasks. I-88 data continue to produce new knowledge even 40 years after my first dig; I've just published a new article on some of the sites.
Cultural resource management archaeology does not guarantee that you will make discoveries all the time. Probably less than half the projects we survey will locate a site. That's not a bad thing. After all, modern developments need to happen, and it is best that they are built where there are no significant sites.
But when you do make a discovery, you can almost feel the presence of people who lived here and called this place home thousands of years ago. There is a sense of humility in being allowed to meet the ancient ones through the artifacts they left behind, and this gift needs to be treated with respect. Cultural resource management archaeologists are tasked with finding ways to preserve the sites we find by working with developers and agency officials to see if there are ways to redesign a project to go around the site, thus leaving it undisturbed.
For instance, a proposed commercial development on the Chenango River near Binghamton, New York led to our finding a rare, information-rich camp with scores of stone bowl fragments and cooking hearths. We worked with a cooperative developer and the town board to shorten the width of proposed parking spaces. They also repositioned planned "green space" to allow for preservation of parts of the site. A nice balance resulted - the development moved forward and the site is preserved for future research.
My job today is less about digging than it is about working with people in the present to build an understanding of the people who created the sites we find.
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My academic knowledge is essential to my professional life; I could not analyze and interpret what I find within meaningful contexts without it. But I also needed experience in business management, negotiation, diplomacy and the ability to share our discoveries with the communities in which we work.
Much of my job today involves working with Native American Nations. I was fortunate to have a Native American chief mentor me in how to build mutual respect with First Nation peoples. What started as a conflict over a natural hill with no artifacts turned into a lifelong lesson on sacred places that are invisible to an untrained person. Once I realized that the past is not just about objects but about people (then and now), a whole new picture of heritage archaeology emerged for me.
I assist clients and federal or state agencies in complying with laws requiring that the descendants of the ancient peoples who created sites be involved in decisions about the preservation of sites in jeopardy of being destroyed. There is satisfaction in knowing that you can not only make discoveries that yield new knowledge, but that you have the ability to help protect these sites and share the reasons why preservation is important.
Cultural resources are fragile nonrenewable resources. Once they are destroyed, they cannot be recreated. This is not only a loss for our nation's heritage but a more personal loss for the living descendants of these past peoples. Cultural resource management is a specialized industry that employs thousands of archaeologists who are not just diggers but interpreters and preservation experts. The discoveries we make are windows through which we view the people who came before us. It's our responsibility to respect that heritage and the people who are connected to the sites we discover.
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Nina M. Versaggi, Director of the Public Archaeology Facility and Associate Professor,Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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The current active lava flow (named “61g”) from Hawaii's Kīlauea Volcano began as an eruption in May, and has spent months making its way to the shoreline. The flow reached the water in late July, and has now forged several entry points near near Kamokuna. The current flow is not a threat to any local communities, largely following previous lava flow paths. As geologists from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory track the progress of the flow, visitors have been making the hike, or taking sightseeing boats, to view the ocean entry of 61g. Kīlauea has been continuously erupting since January of 1983.
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Three decades after the first reports of the arrival in Botswana of Salvinia molestaa free-floating, mat-forming water fern native to Brazil scientists from the southern African country's Department of Water Affairs say they are at last prevailing in the struggle against a weed that has come to close to threatening the entire Okavango, Africa's largest wetlands that is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to some of the world's most endangered species.
A research article by Dr. C. N. Kurugundla and others, published recently in The Open Plant Science Journal, describes how teams of scientists and laborers from the Department of Water Affairs undertook the decades-long challenge to combat invasive weeds in the Okavango Delta and also the wetlands off the Kwando-Linyanti-Chobe River and the Limpopo River that borders South Africa and Zimbabwe. “Continuous monthly surveys and monitoring of rivers, lagoons and other wetlands resulted in success and shall serve as inspiration in aquatic weeds management,” Bentham Science Publishing (publisher of the journal) said in a news statement.
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The review presents success stories of control of salvinia, Salvinia molesta, by its biocontrol weevil, Cyrtobagous salviniae. (Photo above courtesy of Dr. C. N. Kurugundla)
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No fresh releases of the weevil were undertaken after mass releases in 1999 and 2000, which established the insect within three years of their introduction, the authors say.
The review also presents the successful eradication of water lettuce, Pistia stratiotes, in the transboundary Kwando River wetlands by 2005. Management of the growth of water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, from 2012 in the transboundary Limpopo River jointly with neighboring South Africa is also discussed.
The researchers also looks at legislation regarding aquatic weeds. The Government of Botswana “regulates the movement and importation of boats and aquatic apparatus to prevent the importation and spread of aquatic weeds” by the strict implementation of “Aquatic Weed (Control) Act -1986,” the authors say.
“The efforts made by the department have benefited tourism, water resource use, and wildlife. Partly due to the achievement of aquatic weeds control, the tourism sector is now very stable and contributes ca. 25% to the country's GDP,” the news released adds.
“The authors Kurugundla et al. suggest that integrating biological and physical control with public awareness campaigns while working with conservation groups and NGOs would provide sustainable development of wetlands for ecological integrity and livelihoods.”
Reference: Kurugundla. C. N.; et al. (2016). Alien Invasive Aquatic Plant Species in Botswana: Historical Perspective and Management, Open Plant Sci. J., DOI: 10.2174/1874294701609010001
Post prepared from materials provided by Bentham Science Publishing.
Related information: Giant salvinia in the United States and Interagency Giant Salvinia Control Team
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S.S82 posted a photo:
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This Labyrinth-esque documentary short, We Are Not Alone, tells the story of the Unarius Academy of Science and its founder Ruth E. Norman—known as “Archangel Uriel” to her students. Norman was an eccentric female leader and self-proclaimed clairvoyant of a spiritual collective in California. She encouraged her students to achieve personal transformation by producing wildly imaginative psychodramas about their past lives. The short film depicts the clear devotion that the Unarians felt towards Norman as they created films on their quest for spiritual healing. These films were shown on public access television in the 1980s, and are now coveted by outsider cinema film collectors.
We Are Not Alone is presented by the female-led media company The Front and directed by filmmaker Jodi Wille. You can find more information about their upcoming projects on their website, Twitter, and Facebook.
Conservationists criticise Andrew Cuomo after he tweets photos of himself next to thresher shark caught during fishing trip
The New York state governor, Andrew Cuomo, and his news anchor brother Chris have been criticised by conservationists and constituents after posing beside a threatened shark they killed on a fishing trip.
The governor tweeted two photos of himself and friends standing next to the bloodied shark as it hung from a marina-side gantry.
Today's catch: A 154.5-lb Thresher shark off the south shore of Long Island. #IFISHNY pic.twitter.com/AsCgEEBxtk
Meanwhile on Long Island, catch of the day goes to Gov Cuomo...with an assist from @chriscuomo pic.twitter.com/9ssErgVtJA
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thelimla posted a photo:
Parliament at sunset in July
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Whakaari, also known as White Island, is an active stratovolcano, situated 48 km (30 mi) from the North Island of New Zealand in the Bay of Plenty. Whakaari is New Zealand's most active volcano, and has been built up by continuous eruptions over the past 150,000 years. The island is approximately 2 km (1.2 mi) in diameter and rises to a height of 321 m (1,053 ft) above sea level.
37°31′S 177°11′E
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The magnitude of food loss is alarming. And yet, the solutions can be relatively simple.
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Aimé Bonpland Scientist of the Day
Aimé Bonpland, a French explorer and botanist, was born on either Aug. 22, Aug. 23, or Aug. 29, 1773; we opt here for the Aug. 29 birthday.
Using the 100-year-old Antiquities Act, which was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt, Mr. Obama has protected hundreds of millions of acres in places of ecological, historical or cultural significance -- more than any other American president. In 2014, he also greatly expanded the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, south and west of Hawaii. But he has often drawn criticism from Republicans for acting unilaterally.
In a struggling region that has long relied on shrinking timber-related businesses, many residents fear that a national monument could eventually mean new air pollution controls on wood and paper mills in the surrounding areas. "It's sad that rich, out-of-state liberals can team up with President Obama to force a national monument on rural Mainers who do not want it," Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, said in a statement. Earlier this year, the state Legislature passed and Mr. LePage signed a bill opposing the federal takeover.
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Ratatouille
This classic French dish makes the most of end-of-summer farm-to-table produce, including the less-than-lovely bits. As they simmer, they come together, becoming greater than the sum of their parts, as do we when we gather.
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium eggplant, chopped
1 sweet pepper -- red, yellow or orange, chopped
1 large zucchini (or two small), chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 tomatoes, chopped (or 1 15-ounce can chopped tomatoes)
1/2 cup red wine
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 dash red pepper flakes
sea salt to taste
In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped garlic, giving it a stir. Add chopped onion and cook till they soften and release their fragrance, about 5 minutes. In order, add chopped eggplant, pepper, zucchini and mushrooms. Stir to combine.
Stir in chopped tomatoes, wine, cumin, pepper flakes and fennel seeds. Reduce heat to medium and cover, letting the mixture simmer for 20 minutes.
Stir again and season with sea salt to taste.
Serves 4, doubles like a dream, keeps covered and refrigerated for several days.
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Read more: National Parks, Barack Obama, Conservation, Sustainability, Environment, Green News
Francesco Anglani Photographer posted a photo:
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Steve A. Kay, a National Science Foundation-supported researcher from the Scripps Research Institute, studied the circadian biology of a wide range of organisms -- from humans to fruit flies to plants. Pictured here is the bioluminescent plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Bioluminescent organisms ranging from plants to flies (Drosophila) are powerful tools for studying circadian rhythms -- the daily rhythmic activity cycle, based on 24-hour intervals, that is exhibited by many organisms.
Image credit: Steve A. Kay, The Scripps Research Institute
Paula Kahumbu: Elephant diplomacy is helping to get Japan on board in efforts towards a global ban on ivory trade
The global coalition for a total ban on the trade in ivory is taking shape. In Africa calls for the ban are led by the 29 nation African Elephant Coalition (AEC). In the consumer countries, both the US President Obama and China's President Xi have made commitments to close the domestic markets which will have a huge impact on demand.
To be sure, progress towards building the coalition is uneven. Key African nations such as Zimbabwe and Namibia are opposed to the ban, and have even petitioned CITES for a relaxation of current restrictions. In Europe, while the French Environment Minister Ségolène Royal has signed a decree banning the trade, in the UK the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says it is still “working” on its pledge to implement a total ban on ivory sales.
Japan is one of Africa's most important development partners. They have made major contributions and commitments to support conservation. Now the conservation community call for 5 actions to be agreed at TICAD:
1. Japan to permanently close legal domestic markets of ivory, and aggressively close down online trading sites that deal in ivory, all to crush demand.
It is important that the international community does not underestimate Japan's role as an ivory consumer and the effect of legal ivory trade. With Kenya having hosted TICAD6, I hope that Kenya will use their friendship with Japan, to win their support on elephant conservation.
I was invited by First Lady Mrs Kenyatta, who is also doing a lot of conservation work, to visit the Sheldrick's animal orphanage. Baby elephants who lost their mothers to poaching… They may have been traumatised by seeing their mother killed right in front of them, yet they come and so innocently play with us.
Feeding them milk, stroking them… I felt a kind of connection with these babies. And before I realized I was in tears. It almost felt like touching God…
Continue reading...A new feature on Facebook shows what interests the website thinks users have and the types of advertisements it would generate to target them. But people quickly found that not every pick is a gem.
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The five covers feature the company's heroes — including Spiderman, Iron Man, and the Hulk — all engaging in activities educators have been trying to promote.
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Federal audits of 37 Medicare Advantage health plans cited 35 for overbilling the government. Many plans, for example, claimed patients with depression or diabetes were sicker than they actually were.
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Chocolate lovers may agree cocoa is the food of the gods, but how strong is the evidence that it boosts heart health? Researchers are recruiting for a new study aimed at answering this question.
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fiddleoak posted a photo:
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in editing, the photo got this close to being BW. pretty glad I didn't end up going that route.
Kieran Williams Photography posted a photo:
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Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) surveyed dozens of young stars -- some sun-like and others approximately double that size -- and discovered that the larger variety have surprisingly rich reservoirs of carbon monoxide gas in their debris disks. In contrast, the lower-mass, sun-like stars have debris disks that are virtually gas-free. This finding runs counter to astronomers' expectations, which hold that stronger radiation from larger stars should strip away gas from their debris disks faster than the comparatively mild radiation from smaller stars. It may also offer new insights into the timeline for giant planet formation around young stars.
Image credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF; D. Berry / SkyWorks
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meriwaniart posted a photo:
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Silhouettes of a lady crossing a bridge over River Thames against the sunset
London August 2016
meriwani art photography
A Melbourne man has to hand over his entire stock of “The One Ring” knock-offs to the Tolkein Estate, after losing a copyright case.…
koko black posted a photo:
London Docklands
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